The world’s happiest cities have been revealed in the 2024 Happy Cities Index, compiled by The Institute for Quality of Life, an no Australian cities have placed in the top 20.
The highest ranked Australian city on the list was Brisbane, awarded a ‘gold’ standard but only managing to place 21st. Melbourne was in 41st place, Perth in 61st and Hobart in 87th.
Shockingly, Sydney was in 116th place, wedged between Kristiansand in Norway and the Latvian capital Riga. Strangely, Adelaide did not feature on the list at all.
Taking out top spot was the city of Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city, followed by Zurich in Switzerland and German capital Berlin.
The Institute of Quality of Life says it its rankings on the factors that have a direct impact on people’s happiness; such as local governance, environment, economy and mobility of citizens.
“There is no statistical woman or man whose sense of happiness can be studied by locating her or his in different cities of the world,” the Institute says.
“In each location, a bunch of other determinants affects the feeling of happiness.”
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